Why I Hate Spending Money On My Car

One of the best things about being a grown-up is having the ability to make money. It’s like all of your childhood dreams come true, the fact you can strut around with a bulging (ish) wallet, brandishing your debit cards whenever needed, whether that be in Selfridges, Topshop or Whistles.

(It’s evident now that pretty much all of my childhood dreams revolved around clothes shopping)

But the reality is that you often have to spend your hard-earned dough on things that don’t make you happy, not solely on beautiful fabrics to grace your body – more’s the pity. Yep, as an adult you have to spend more than a tiny bit of money on what is, quite frankly, really boring stuff. Like sensible and supportive shoes, council tax, and toilet bleach. Winter/summer duvets, big knickers and kale. Lightbulbs, bus passes and the healthy bread instead of the crunchy french stuff.

And cars are one of these money drains, one of these things that it is entirely not sexy for most of the population to brandish their debit cards over. They’re a necessary evil: something you need to get you from A to B, to complete the school run and pick up the supermarket shop, and something that will require you to spend more money than you will ever want.

I mean, I’m a car lover. I passed my driving test at 17 and have been zooming around on four wheels ever since: I’ve worked up from driving a teeny tiny 0.9l Fiat Cincequento (remember those?!), all the way through the hierarchy of the Fiat Brava, the Peugeot 307, the Renault Laguna, three Ford Focuses and finally, the Range Rover Evoque. I love the fact I now do all my zooming in such a beautiful beast of a vehicle.

But still, do I hate paying for the thing. I thought buying it would be enough spending, but no: the tyres, the services, the fuel. Heck, even the valet cleaning is more expensive, going from £15 to £20 for the simple fact it’s apparently classed as an MPV (but obviously not too spendy that I will attempt to clean the car myself).

Which is why I was so delighted to hear that Halfords autocentre, the place I always go to buy my windscreen wipers and air fresheners, are offering a free Halfords Autocentre MOT, valid with purchases right through until October 14th.

YOU HEARD ME RIGHT. No longer do you need to spend money on the one annual thing that is as certain as your birthday – the MOT. You can head to Halfords Autocentre and get it for free instead.

This offer comes during the second busiest month of the year for MOT tests, which sees nearly half a million cars requiring their MOTs. And it’s super easy to redeem: all you need to do is buy any product at Halfords before 14th October and you’ll get your MOT thrown in gratis, as long as you redeem it at some point over the following thirteen months.

With 53% of drivers admitting they don’t know when their MOT is due, it makes total sense to head to your local Halfords to pick up any automative-related products you might need and keep a hold of your MOT redemption for whenever the time is right.

And then give yourself a pat on the back for the fact that for this one year, you’ll be able to buy a nice pair of shoes instead of throwing MOT money at your car.